Effects of COVID-19 during lockdown in Nepal

Nepal started its full lockdown on March 24, 2020 and has been extended until 14 June 2020 as a precaution for prevention of COVID-19 infection. However, the strict lockdown has been criticised by many as not all the deaths are caused by COVID-19. The long and strict lockdown have had some negative effects in many aspects of health of an individual in the community. Many women are facing barriers to access maternity health care during the lockdown period and there has been rise in the suicidal behaviour such as sucidal attempt and actual suicide itself among the general population. As the lockdown began in Nepal, all the school and colleges were suspended, and children were forced to spend their time indoors and exams has been postponed leaving the students stressed about the uncertainty of their future. Social distancing, isolation and quarantine at home can result in isolated in an abusive home where there could be even more increase in abuse during such crisis. Millions of babies are missing the routine vaccinations which is a threat to global achievement in immunization. Apart from the rise in negative impact on health of Nepali people, there are other impacts related to health such as serious impacts on logistics and supply management including shortage of medicine and food supply; and impacts on farming including both production and sale. Nepal took several precautionary measures as a response towards COVID-19 such as First, limiting international air travel, sealing the land border-crossings with India and introduction of social distancing measures. However, with rise in deaths due to non COVID related causes and negative impacts on economic and financial condition of the country, there is a need for the country to ease its lockdown. Contact tracing, making face mask mandatory along with social distancing measure can be an alternative to lockdown for Nepal while the country is preparing to ease its lockdown. Social distancing, hygiene, lifestyle factors and PPE measures need to continue for long term, whilst we need to keep working on the big public health issues such as poverty reduction, improving access to health service to achieve universal health coverage.

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COVID-19 Pandemic Response Simulation in a Large City: Impact of Nonpharmaceutical Interventions on Reopening Society

Medical Decision Making ◽

10.1177/0272989x211003081 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 0272989X2110030

Author(s):

Serin Lee ◽

Zelda B. Zabinsky ◽

Judith N. Wasserheit ◽

Stephen M. Kofsky ◽

Shan Liu

Keyword(s):

Large City ◽

Face Mask ◽

School Closure ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

The Novel ◽

Agent Based ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Variable Compliance ◽

Novel Coronavirus ◽

Nonpharmaceutical Interventions

As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to expand, policymakers are striving to balance the combinations of nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to keep people safe and minimize social disruptions. We developed and calibrated an agent-based simulation to model COVID-19 outbreaks in the greater Seattle area. The model simulated NPIs, including social distancing, face mask use, school closure, testing, and contact tracing with variable compliance and effectiveness to identify optimal NPI combinations that can control the spread of the virus in a large urban area. Results highlight the importance of at least 75% face mask use to relax social distancing and school closure measures while keeping infections low. It is important to relax NPIs cautiously during vaccine rollout in 2021.

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Early estimates of COVID-19 infections in small, medium and large population clusters

BMJ Global Health ◽

10.1136/bmjgh-2020-003055 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (9) ◽

pp. e003055

Author(s):

Amir Siraj ◽

Alemayehu Worku ◽

Kiros Berhane ◽

Maru Aregawi ◽

Munir Eshetu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Large Population ◽

Face Mask ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Local Context ◽

African Region ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Population Sizes ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

The Impact

IntroductionSince its emergence in late December 2019, COVID-19 has rapidly developed into a pandemic in mid of March with many countries suffering heavy human loss and declaring emergency conditions to contain its spread. The impact of the disease, while it has been relatively low in the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as of May 2020, is feared to be potentially devastating given the less developed and fragmented healthcare system in the continent. In addition, most emergency measures practised may not be effective due to their limited affordability as well as the communal way people in SSA live in relative isolation in clusters of large as well as smaller population centres.MethodsTo address the acute need for estimates of the potential impacts of the disease once it sweeps through the African region, we developed a process-based model with key parameters obtained from recent studies, taking local context into consideration. We further used the model to estimate the number of infections within a year of sustained local transmissions under scenarios that cover different population sizes, urban status, effectiveness and coverage of social distancing, contact tracing and usage of cloth face mask.ResultsWe showed that when implemented early, 50% coverage of contact tracing and face mask, with 33% effective social distancing policies can bringing the epidemic to a manageable level for all population sizes and settings we assessed. Relaxing of social distancing in urban settings from 33% to 25% could be matched by introduction and maintenance of face mask use at 43%.ConclusionsIn SSA countries with limited healthcare workforce, hospital resources and intensive care units, a robust system of social distancing, contact tracing and face mask use could yield in outcomes that prevent several millions of infections and thousands of deaths across the continent.

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COVID-19 social distancing: negative effects on people with Parkinson disease and their associations with confidence for self-management

BMC Neurology ◽

10.1186/s12883-021-02313-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Galit Yogev-Seligmann ◽

Michal Kafri

Keyword(s):

Parkinson Disease ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Patient Activation ◽

Well Being ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Physical And Mental Health ◽

Multiple Choice Questions ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Social Distancing ◽

And Function

Abstract Background The purpose of this study was to describe the effects of COVID-19 social distancing on the function, health, and well-being of people with Parkinson disease (PD), and test the association of these effects with patients’ activation levels, i.e., their skills and confidence in managing their health. Methods Community-dwelling individuals with PD answered an anonymous web-based survey. Part 1 included 27 multiple-choice questions regarding changes in function, health, medical care, and well-being. Part 2 consisted of the Patient Activation Measure, which enquired about skills and confidence in managing one’s health. Results Respondents (N = 142) reported decreases in various function (24.8%–37.3%), health (33.8%–43%), and well-being (26.1%–47.1%) domains. Rehabilitation ceased for 61.2%. Among those reporting a worsening of health, 67.8% associated this with the cessation of rehabilitative treatments or decrease in physical activity. Patients’ activation levels were inversely correlated with increased assistance for activities of daily living, increased tiredness, worsening symptoms, and lack of support from family and friends. Conclusions Social distancing had a major negative impact on the health and function of people with PD. Practical implications Supporting people with PD skills and confidence in managing health may preserve their physical and mental health during this period of dramatic changes in life’s circumstances.

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Control of an Epidemic of SARS-CoV-2 by Assessing Transmissibility of Its Infected Cases in Absence of a Suitable Vaccine

10.5772/intechopen.96201 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Bidisa Sarkar ◽

Kamalesh Sarkar

Keyword(s):

Viral Load ◽

Infection Control ◽

Control Policy ◽

Face Mask ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Population Mobility ◽

Community Awareness ◽

Ct Value ◽

Management Protocol ◽

Precautionary Measures

SARS-CoV-2 or Covid 19 and it’s pandemicity has been wreaking havoc in many countries worldwide. It is important to counter and contain the spread of Covid-19 using some effective infection control policies as we await an effective protection such as vaccine. Ahmedabad Model of Covid-19 Control could be used as an established epidemic management protocol due to COVID 19 infection. It relies on the Cycle Threshold (Ct) Value, which was used as a proxy marker for assessing initial viral load. It was evident that cases with higher viral load spread the disease at much higher rate compared to that of low viral load apart from population mobility and/or population density. Therefore, Ct value based segregation of infected cases with higher viral load along with contact tracing of them of previous 5 days is an effective epidemic control policy. It needs to be remembered that a section of infected cases is asymptomatic and capable of spreading infection in the community unknowingly. Hence, infection control practices must be accompanied with standard precautionary measures such as physical distancing, hand hygiene and wearing face mask. Community awareness is an integral part of it. Newer biotechnology based researches may be encouraged based on felt needs.

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Projected COVID-19 epidemic in the United States in the context of the effectiveness of a potential vaccine and implications for social distancing and face mask use

10.1101/2020.10.28.20221234 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mingwang Shen ◽

Jian Zu ◽

Christopher K. Fairley ◽

José A. Pagán ◽

Li An ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Social Contact ◽

Face Mask ◽

The United States ◽

Vaccine Effectiveness ◽

Phase Iii ◽

Effective Vaccine ◽

Social Distancing ◽

The Us

ABSTRACTBackgroundMultiple candidates of COVID-19 vaccines have entered Phase III clinical trials in the United States (US). There is growing optimism that social distancing restrictions and face mask requirements could be eased with widespread vaccine adoption soon.MethodsWe developed a dynamic compartmental model of COVID-19 transmission for the four most severely affected states (New York, Texas, Florida, and California). We evaluated the vaccine effectiveness and coverage required to suppress the COVID-19 epidemic in scenarios when social contact was to return to pre-pandemic levels and face mask use was reduced. Daily and cumulative COVID-19 infection and death cases were obtained from the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus resource center and used for model calibration.ResultsWithout a vaccine, the spread of COVID-19 could be suppressed in these states by maintaining strict social distancing measures and face mask use levels. But relaxing social distancing restrictions to the pre-pandemic level without changing the current face mask use would lead to a new COVID-19 outbreak, resulting in 0.8-4 million infections and 15,000-240,000 deaths across these four states over the next 12 months. In this scenario, introducing a vaccine would partially offset this negative impact even if the vaccine effectiveness and coverage are relatively low. However, if face mask use is reduced by 50%, a vaccine that is only 50% effective (weak vaccine) would require coverage of 55-94% to suppress the epidemic in these states. A vaccine that is 80% effective (moderate vaccine) would only require 32-57% coverage to suppress the epidemic. In contrast, if face mask usage stops completely, a weak vaccine would not suppress the epidemic, and further major outbreaks would occur. A moderate vaccine with coverage of 48-78% or a strong vaccine (100% effective) with coverage of 33-58% would be required to suppress the epidemic. Delaying vaccination rollout for 1-2 months would not substantially alter the epidemic trend if the current interventions are maintained.ConclusionsThe degree to which the US population can relax social distancing restrictions and face mask use will depend greatly on the effectiveness and coverage of a potential COVID-19 vaccine if future epidemics are to be prevented. Only a highly effective vaccine will enable the US population to return to life as it was before the pandemic.

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SIMONIC: IoT Based Quarantine Monitoring System for Covid-19

Jurnal Elektronika dan Telekomunikasi ◽

10.14203/jet.v21.112-121 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

pp. 112

Author(s):

Vita Awalia Mardiana ◽

Mochamad Mardi Martadinata ◽

Galih Nugraha Nurkahfi ◽

Arumjeni Mitayani ◽

Dayat Kurniawan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Monitoring System ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Mobile Apps ◽

Human Life ◽

Low Cost ◽

Low Complexity ◽

Integrated System ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Set Up

COVID-19, which has become a global pandemic since March 2020, has tremendously affected human life globally. The negative impact of COVID-19 affects societies in almost all aspects. Implementing quarantine monitoring, also social distancing, and contact tracing are a series of processes that can suppress the new infected COVID-19 cases in various countries. Prior works have proposed different monitoring systems to assist the monitoring of individuals in quarantines, as well as many methods are offered for social distancing and contact tracing. These methods focus on one function to provide a reliable system. In this paper, we propose IoT-based quarantine monitoring by implementing a geofence equipped with social distancing features to offer an integrated system that provides more benefits than one system carrying one particular function. We propose a system consisting of a low cost, low complexity, and reusable wristband design and mobile apps to support the quarantine monitoring system. For the geofencing, we propose a GPS-based geofence system that was developed by taking advantage of the convenience offered by the Traccar application. Meanwhile, we add the notification for social distancing feature with adaptive distance measurement RSSI-based set up in the android application. Based on the experiment we did to validate the system, in terms of wristband-to-smartphone communication, scanning interval in smartphone and advertising interval in wristband is best to set in 7 s for both. For social distancing notification and geofence, we measure the system performance through precision, recall, accuracy, and F-measure.

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Preventative and Proactive Measures to Mitigate the Transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

10.14293/s2199-1006.1.sor-.ppaahgk.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

James Young ◽

Emily He ◽

DaLoria Boone ◽

Julia Luehr ◽

Kazi Tasnim ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽

Face Mask ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Qualitative Comparison ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Hygiene Practices ◽

Environmental Setting ◽

Proactive Measures ◽

The Individual

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission can be mitigated through a combination of preventive and proactive measures. In this review, we first highlight modes of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, quantitatively assess individual mitigation measures, and conclude with a qualitative comparison. We detail how the efficacy of specific face masks must be balanced with their availability, while for comparison, social distancing and good hygiene practices may not be as directly effective as respirators but are widely accessible methods not subject to limited supplies. Controlling environmental setting, testing, and contact tracing are highly effective mitigation practices, but typically require collective action versus the individual activity of the former strategies. Our qualitative comparative assessment of preventative mitigation factors (i.e., face mask usage, social distancing, hygiene, and choice of environment setting) and proactive mitigation measures (i.e., testing, and contact tracing) serves to inform communities on the effectiveness and feasibility of these strategies.

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COVID-19 Countermeasures and Passengers’ Confidence of Urban Rail Travel in Bangkok

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13169377 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (16) ◽

pp. 9377

Author(s):

Varameth Vichiensan ◽

Yoshitsugu Hayashi ◽

Sudarat Kamnerdsap

Keyword(s):

Structural Equation ◽

Face Mask ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

Factor Analyses ◽

Transit Systems ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Urban Rail ◽

Interview Survey ◽

Second Wave

Rail transit systems around the world have been suffering from heavily reduced ridership due to reduced capacity for social distancing and passengers’ concern over the risk of COVID-19 infection. Various countermeasures were implemented to reduce the COVID-19 risk so that passengers felt safe to travel on rail. The objectives of this study were to evaluate COVID-19 countermeasures of Bangkok’s urban rail from passengers’ viewpoints and examine its influence on passenger’s confidence. The background of the COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand and the rail countermeasures implemented in Bangkok were summarized. The data were obtained from an interview survey of 1105 railway passengers conducted at the stations during the second wave of the pandemic. Factor analyses and structural equation modeling were conducted. The results revealed that social distancing was not satisfied by the passengers but adversely caused inconvenience and increased infection risk when the station or rail were congested. On the other hand, the passenger temperature check, face mask enforcement, and hand sanitization countermeasures were found to highly and positively contribute to passengers’ confidence. Contact tracing application was also found to raise awareness and confidence. The findings provided insights for rail authorities and related agencies to effectively implement the countermeasures that would be practically and financially sustainable.

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Problems of Development of Small and Medium Russian Towns

Economics and Management ◽

10.35854/1998-1627-2019-7-24-29 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 24-29

Author(s):

V V. Kafidov ◽

V. N. Filippov ◽

I. P. Filippova

Keyword(s):

Urban Development ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Physical Space ◽

Living Environment ◽

Transport Infrastructure ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Conceptual Approach ◽

Fundamental Factor ◽

New Buildings

The presented study addresses the problems of development of small and medium towns in Russia. Aim. The study aims to examine a town as a socio-economic environment where its residents exist and as the fundamental factor for the development of society.Tasks. The authors identify key problems in the development of small and medium Russian towns, which interferes with the historical appearance and has a negative impact on the living environment.Methods. Problems in the development of small and medium towns in Russia are examined using theoretical methods: systematic approach, statistical analysis, social and philosophical analysis.Results. The study identifies the main negative effects of the existing model of development of small and medium Russian towns, such as destruction of their historical and cultural appearance, distortion of the overall architectural motif, increased load on communications, and congestion of the transport infrastructure.Conclusions. At the current stage, efficient development of small and medium towns in Russia is impossible within the framework of the existing infill development. This chaotic process cannot be stopped without a new conceptual approach and changes in the legislative and normative framework of urban development. The only factor that determines the boundaries of the existing approach to urban development is the lack of physical space for new buildings in urban areas. The authors formulate proposals that would help to solve the problems of development of small and medium towns in Russia.

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Are social networking platforms the key to effective social distancing for COVID-19? (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.19722 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Viknesh Sounderajah ◽

Hutan Ashrafian ◽

Sheraz Markar ◽

Ara Darzi

Keyword(s):

Operating System ◽

Social Networking ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Text Data ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Web Mapping ◽

Viral Spread ◽

Behavioural Insights ◽

Mapping Software ◽

Incidence And Mortality

UNSTRUCTURED If health systems are to effectively employ social distancing measures to in response to further COVID-19 peaks, they must adopt new behavioural metrics that can supplement traditional downstream measures, such as incidence and mortality. Access to mobile digital innovations may dynamically quantify compliance to social distancing (e.g. web mapping software) as well as establish personalised real-time contact tracing of viral spread (e.g. mobile operating system infrastructure through Google-Apple partnership). In particular, text data from social networking platforms can be mined for unique behavioural insights, such as symptom tracking and perception monitoring. Platforms, such as Twitter, have shown significant promise in tracking communicable pandemics. As such, it is critical that social networking companies collaborate with each other in order to (1) enrich the data that is available for analysis, (2) promote the creation of open access datasets for researchers and (3) cultivate relationships with governments in order to affect positive change.

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